Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-08-17
A Beautiful Tribute.

- The letter which Senator D. w.
" oorhees wrote to the committee in
charge ofsthe unvailing of the soldiers
monument ataLogansport, Ind. says
the National Tribune, of Washington,
D. c., is as beautiful and touching
a tribute to the Union soldier as
ever was penned. Nothing could be
nobler than the spirit it breathes. We.
give it below entire: 80 =. III =
GENTLEMEN: have SO anxiously de-
sired to be present at the unvailing Of,
your monument in honor Of the dead
soldiers of Cass County that I have
postponed my answer to your Invitation
until this last moment. To my very
deep regret find cannot be there.
Others will address you with more
sloquence and in better phrase than I
could employ, but there is no heart in
Indiana that beats more responsive to
your noble purpose than mine. The
soldiers of 1ndiana-more than 200,-
900 strong-were on every blood-stained
battlefield for the Union, and wherever,
the flag with it's stars and stripes Of
glory was displayed there they rallied
and upheld it. When the dead and
wounded of the great battles of the war
were gathered up and cared for, In
diana soldiers were found at the farth-
est front and where danger and honor
were alike the greatest. 49, .-
rejoice that monument to the
memory of those who fell to rise no
more has been erected in your beauti-
full city on the banks of the beautiful
Wabash. They fell in the brightmorn-
ing of their lives, for the Constitution,
the laws and the Union of the States.
They gave up this world with it's sum
shine, it's starry heavens and all it's I'M
folding glories in order that the Gov
eminent should remain as our fathers
made it. They tore themselves away
from weeping kindred, from mothers,
wives, sisters and all whom the heart
holds dear. They gave up home with
all the precious and inexpressible en-
dearments which cling to that hallowed
| spot and went down into the valley and
shadow os death in order that perpetu-
ity and permanent peace might bless,
in all the coming ages, the United
American Republic.
No memorial honors can be too
great, no monumental shafts too high
for the heroic dead who thus died. Nor
can any rewards or benefactions be too
| munifcent for those who survived and
came back to US from their baptism Of
blood and fire.
Let the American people, therefore,
as much in a spirit Of justice as OF
generosity unvail monuments of brass
and marble to the soldiers who persisted,
and at the same time provide by law
literally and manfully for the sup
port and comfort of those who surviv.
ed the deadly perils they encountered.
The names of nearly $4,000 Indiana
soldiers, together with the windows and
fatherless, are on the pension rolls al
indianapolis and every dollar of the
millions they receive is just tribute,
on the part of the Government, to the
patriotism, courage and suffering Of
those who, in the hour of it's extremity,
profered their lives for its preservation.
That pension-roll at Indianapolis,
more promptly paid by that indiana
veteran, Col. Zollinger, than any other
roll in the United States, and increas.
ing in stature and dimensions every
day, is, in itself, a mighty monument
to the soldier and worthy of remerl-
brance and mention whenever and
wherever Indiana soldiers arc
honored.
Again expressing my regret that
cannot be with you, I am with great
respect,
Your Friend and Fellow-C Citizen,
D. w. VOORHEES,.